1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to cleaning devices and, in particular, to a motor-operated device for cleaning leaves and other debris from the rain gutters of a house, operable from the ground beneath the gutters. More particularly, the invention relates to a gutter cleaning device using a plurality of preformed, flexible sections of line, which when set into whirling motion by the motor, dislodge the leaves and debris from the gutter without cutting the same, as the device is rolled along the outer edge of the gutter.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Most home owners periodically must remove leaves and other debris from their rain gutters to prevent the same from being washed down the downspouts connected thereto and subsequently clogging the same or the drain tiles leading from the house to a storm sewer or discharge area. This procedure requires an individual using an extension ladder for either climbing onto the roof and subsequently over to the roof edge to manually remove the debris from the gutters, or continually moving the ladder in several foot increments along the house, enabling the individual to reach the gutters while standing on top of the ladder. Both of these procedures are time consuming, strenuous and, more importantly, exceedingly dangerous to the individual, since numerous accidents occur each year to people while working from a ladder around the house.
Various devices have been devised which are placed over the top of the gutters, such as screening or grating, to prevent the accumulation of such debris in the gutter. Also, screen cages are placed at the location of the downspout within the gutter to prevent this debris from entering the downspout. Although these protective screens do retard to some degree the accumulation of debris in the gutters, invariably such materials will eventually accumulate therein, making the cleaning task more difficult by requiring removal of these protective screens prior to removing the debris from the bottom of the gutter. Also, where the house is located adjacent to a number of shade trees, leaves will accumulate over the top of the protective screen, preventing the flow of water into the gutter during a relatively heavy rain.
A recent type of lawn care device which has achieved some degree of popularity consists of an electric or gas-powered motor mounted on a handle having a plurality of strands of line or non-metallic cord mounted on the motor shaft. These cords are rotated in a whirling motion at an extremely high velocity by the motor and will cut grass, weeds and the like when brought into contact therewith. Some examples of these whirling cord cutters are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,859,776, 4,052,789 and 4,054,992. These types of devices have only found use in the cutting of vegetation and not for other uses.
These vegetation cutting devices use various types of short sections of flexible cords or strings for the cutting blade. Most of these are merely straight, flexible pieces of material which provide a whipping or slashing effect when rotating at the extremely high speeds, which will cut and mangle the vegetation with which it is brought in contact, as intended, due to the relatively straight configuration of the strings. The subject invention modifies and improves such vegetation cutting devices in creating a device for cleaning debris from rain gutters in an extremely safe, easy and inexpensive manner.
There is no known rain gutter cleaning device of which I am aware which enables an individual to remain on the ground beneath the rain gutters while removing debris therefrom by use of motor driven, preformed, flexible lines having a scoop-like configuration enabling the same to dislodge leaves and debris from the gutters without appreciably cutting and mangling the same into small bits and pieces.